“Gamer” functions as a social commentary in so many ways and it gives a good view of what life is like. The most obvious way the movie imitates life is by showing how people can get addicted to video games and virtual worlds. The best example of that is the fat man who plays the video game as the woman. He has become very fat and can’t even move he has to use a wheelchair. They made him look so terribly nasty; by making him look like this they were able to show the audience what people who are addicted to video games turn into. I think they did a very good job of showing it. Another social commentary was how men control women. That same fat man was playing the game as a woman. This shows that in our world men are always telling women what to do, no matter what it is. It could be how to act, what to say, and basically how to live. Another way art imitates life is by showing the audience that our society doesn’t care about the people on death row. People don’t really care what happens to them; whether they live or die, it doesn’t matter. One last social commentary “Gamer” made was the sexualization of our culture. There were many scenes with half naked women, which represent how our culture has changed from being ashamed to show sexuality in movies, music, and in society overall, to a very sexualized culture where you see it all the time. Girls are dressing less clothing now; their shorts keep getting shorter and their stomachs are opening up now. Pop stars have taken it to another level and act very sexually both onstage and in music videos; for example Katy Perry’s whipped cream bra and almost all of Britney Spears’ music videos. Overall, all the aspects of “Gamer” resemble life; it shows the audience how people can get addicted to games, how men control women, how people don’t care for the lives of the people on death row, and how our culture has become very sexual.

Waggoner’s essay was very relevant to “Gamer”. They both showed how people who play video games get really into them and become addicted to them. They allowed the audience to see how much of an impact these games have on those people who play them. They start only caring about the game and forgetting about reality. The virtual world becomes their reality. Basically, both Waggoner’s essay and “Gamer” reveal what happens to people who play video games.